Looking for a Lion, Finding a Snake

James stared at her incredulously. "Hey!" he exclaimed, staring longingly at this now trash ridden toast. He was just glad that he had one more piece.

He shielded this from Alli. "Stay back!" he said, deadly protective of his toast. "Merlin, that was a good piece too! Just the right amount of butter." He pouted.

Alli rolled her eyes again. "As if I was going to actually put in the effort. Look, I just did you a favor. You'd be wise to do the same with that piece and then get some real food," she said, eating another strawberry to punctuate her point.

When she'd finished that one, she picked up another and bit into it, accidentally letting some of the juice rolled down her finger. "I honestly don't know how anyone, even a Gryffindor, could prefer that to this," she said, licking the juice off. (She wasn't about to let perfectly good strawberry juice go to waste, after all.)

James shrugged, taking another bite, this time from his second piece. He looked over to see Alli making a mess eating her strawberries. He definitely thought he had the better snack choice.

"At least I'm not making a mess with mine," he stated, in between chewing. It was a bad habit, he knew, but his mother wasn't around to berate him about it. He gestured to her hand. "Need a napkin?"

Alli watched James talk and wrinkled her nose. "At least I'm polite enough to chew with my mouth closed," she shot back. That was a habit of his that she would have to fix.

"Nope!" she replied to his offer, intentionally popping the P sound. She looked at James and licked her finger again, partially to make sure that she got all of the juice, but more to defy him than anything else.

James closed his mouth almost immediately and then realised what he was doing. He took a bite and deliberately chewed the toast with his mouth open. He didn't want to disgust Alli, but if he was playing the part of pissing her off, he'd have to do it effectively.

He watched her lick her finger again and shook his head. And she thought that eating with his mouth open was gross. It was a rather cute image though, he had to admit.

"Sure you don't want to clean behind your ears now, like a cat?" he asked. "Then you can be a stupid lion."

Alli lazily tossed the rest of her strawberry at James. Tom was nearly forgotten at this point. Nearly, but not quite. She wondered how much longer he was going to hold out. Maybe they were being too entertaining for him to get sick of it. That would be unfortunate.

"As much as I'm sure you'd love for this to be bath time and to be invited to have a front row seat, it isn't and you're not. And I can't be a stupid lion ever because I'm a snake, and proud of it," she replied, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

James quickly moved his head to the left to avoid being hit with half a strawberry. He glanced at the platter on the wall behind him.

"Trust me," he said, turning back to Alli. "I do not want, not now or ever, to see you at bath time. I think the sheer thought of that is scar worthy enough." He mock shuddered at the thought, but secretly envisioned the idea of Alli at bath time not an altogether bad image at all. He blinked at his vulgarity of own thoughts then. Where did that come from?

James' face flushed from his own thoughts and his mind was still so taken-aback that he didn't capture what she said about being a stupid lion. He didn't particularly care, as the code name would have been recognised anyway.

Alli raised an eyebrow at James. Whether he meant what he'd said or not, he was still considering the thought of her at bath time, a suspicion which was confirmed by his slight blush. It was an image that she would have to knock out of his mind once Tom had left; that was something he would most definitely not be seeing anytime in the foreseeable future.

"I'm sure that's not what all those boys who think I'm- what was it Tom? Smoking hot but freakin' scary?- would think. I'm sure they'd jump at the chance if they didn't think that I would tear them limb from limb," she said matter of factly, though it was said more to tease James. She knew he hated that phrase but it amused her to no end.

James was snapped out of his own, worrying thoughts with what Alli said. He looked at Tom again, wondering how he knew the term James had overhead. News travels fast obviously, he mused.

He reeled the twinge of jealousy that was settling in his stomach in and rolled his eyes. "I bet you're rather pleased with that thought. Of all boys fawning over you," he said. "Well," he poked himself in the chest with his thumb. "Not this boy."

"Oh really?" Alli asked as a wicked idea popped into her head. It was probably pushing it a bit but she had done it to Tom and he hadn't walked away from it with the impression that she fancied him, so it probably wouldn't make him think that about her and James, even though it was true.

"This is going to be funny. Watch and learn," she whispered to Tom in a low voice so James could not hear.

She took the plate of strawberries over to James and held it out. "Have a strawberry, Jamesie, they're much better than your stupid toast," she said slyly. "Just go with it," she mouthed to him with her back to Tom. Hopefully he was catching on to what was going to happen, from the nickname and her desire to rid him of the taste of vegemite.

James nodded. "Yep," he replied, but as he watched her actions, he became slightly concerned. Tom still hadn't said anything, which was fine, but as Alli came over to him with the strawberries, James seemed to think she had most her marbles.

He looked up at her and her offering, confused, but lip read what she was trying to communicate. "You haven't poisoned them, have you?" he asked, taking one anyway.

He still wasn't one hundred percent sure what he was going along with, but he ate the strawberry anyway. They were sweet, just the way he liked them. He really hated when they were sour.

"You saw the elves bring them to me, when did I have time to poison them?" Alli rolled her eyes. She knew he was just playing a part most of the time, but her boyfriend could be really thick sometimes.

She slid down the wall next to him. "So you don't consider yourself to be one of the boys who either fawns all over me or wants to do so?" she asked, bringing one hand to his jawline and running her fingers over it lightly. Please figure out what I'm doing, James, she silently pleaded.

Thomas just stayed quiet after James entered... It was better to just leave Allison and her to it. He was almost going to step out and leave him both to it, but then decided to stay there. It was a pretty funny thing to watch, and he definitely wasn't going to chance that James find something he could say about that. He quirked an eyebrow at the two... Was Alli going to try what he thought she would? It would definitely mess with James' mind...

James watched her slide down the wall, aware that her back was no longer facing Thomas and therefore, she couldn't pass messages to him without Tom knowing.

He swallowed awkwardly, not really sure what she wanted him to do. He tried answer her question following the plan that they made prior, but her fingers trailing his cheeks greatly confused him. He tried to give her a confused expression, but he wasn't sure it was convincing enough.

"That's right," he managed to say. "I wouldn't be caught dead fawning over you."

"Oh come on Jamesie, we both know that's not true," Alli turned her head toward James, incidentally turning her back further to Tom.

This is what I did to him, he won't think anything of it, she mouthed to him. When she was finished conveying her message, she drew his face closer to hers. "So, this isn't doing anything to you at all?" she asked loud enough for Tom to hear before dropping her voice.

"Try not to enjoy this too much," she whispered to him so that Tom could not hear. She brought her voice back up to a normal level. "You know, I'd be willing to bet that you're one of the ones who said I was smoking hot but freakin' scary."

James swallowed, thankful that Thomas couldn't tell how nervous Alli was making him. It wasn't nervous about her proximity or her physical contact, more about the response he should make to not make Thomas think that they were secretly into each other.

He saw Alli mouth words to him, but his brain couldn't comprehend what she was saying, which made him more nervous. He didn't say anything, which was probably the safest option of all. James' plan, however backfired when Alli directly asked him a question.

"What was it supposed to be doing to me? If you mean, am I repulsed by your closeness, than yes, it is doing something to me."

"Try not to enjoy this too much,"

James gulped, thoroughly nervous about what she was planning. He didn't know if he could not enjoy whatever he wasn't supposed to enjoy.

"As if I'd even repeat those words. Gross." The fact that those words actually were said by boys in his house, and had spread to the other houses in the first place, annoyed him to no end.

"And yet you're not moving away, which leads me to believe otherwise," Alli replied, hoping against hope that Tom was going to get sick of this soon. She moved closer, like she was going to kiss him but stopped when they were nearly touching. She brushed her lips lightly against his but not for long enough that Tom would be able to tell from behind her that she actually did it.

She got up and went back over to where Tom was. "You're no fun at all, you know that, stupid lion," she said to James over her shoulder.

Thomas watched and couldn't help to grin at the strategy Alli was using, it was obvious to him, but James didn't expect it. He raised an eyebrow at Alli not snogging him or something... Sure it would be too odd for Alli seeing as he was a Gryffindor, but she'd gotten close enough anyway. Thomas didn't know why but it seemed odd for Alli to be so... Reserved. He decided to stick around seeing as it was quite different for Alli to act like this... If she had gone for a light kiss or something he could've said she had a crush on him, but as it was it wouldn't make sense.

"Stupid Lion eh?" He mumbled to himself, James was putting up a good fight at least, he had to admit. He would've expected him to be giving in by now, apparently not.

Alli looked at James then back at Tom and ignored James as best she could. "He's no fun at all. Just sits there like a dead fish. No wonder no girls are interested. At least you played along," she said to Tom. She knew that last bit would annoy James quite a bit, but hopefully Tom would leave soon and then they wouldn't have to act like this.

"So I may have a task for you to do tomorrow morning. Would you be interested?" she asked, making something up on the spot.

Thomas grinned at the idea of James just having a fish face. He didn't quite know why the image appeared to him, but it did and he found it quite hilarious. "I hardly had a choice though." He commented, before realising it was a stupid thing to say and shutting his mouth. He nodded at the chance of him performing a task. These always seemed to appear when he most needed the chance to redeem himself. "Yep. I'd be glad to do whatever task it is." He stated.

Alli rolled her eyes at Tom. "You loved it and you know it," she replied quietly so that James, hopefully, would not hear it and make him even more annoyed.

His agreement to do a task for her was marred only slightly by the fact that she didn't actually have anything for him to do. She'd think of something though, she didn't doubt it. Now to just get Tom to go away... "Wonderful, meet me in the trophy room at 7:30 sharp and bring a book or something, you're going to need it. And I suggest that you get some sleep," she said cryptically. Hopefully Tom would take the early time and the suggestion of sleep as meaning that it was something important and he'd take the hint and leave.

Thomas grinned slightly. "I'm not going to admit it any time soon." He said, keeping his voice as quiet as Alli's. If she kept her voice down she must have had a reason for it. He nodded at his 'orders' so to speak for tomorrow. "I'll make sure to get some sleep now then." He said, heading towards the Kitchen door. "Have fun messing with James." he added jokingly. Alli and him would likely trade insults for the next half hour or so. He stepped out the Kitchen door and web towards the Commons, wondering what tomorrows task would be.

Alli waved to Tom as he left, then stood and listened intently as his footsteps faded away. She heard James stand up behind her, probably also listening to make sure Tom was gone. When she was sure that he was well on his way to the common room, Alli turned around and gave James a proper kiss, pulling away only when she absolutely needed to breathe.

"Sorry about that. I had no clue that he was going to show up here, and I'm sorry for what I said, and he just wouldn't leave, and..." she said everything in a rush and had to remind herself to slow down and speak in coherent sentences. "Hi," she smiled brightly at him.

James watched on, not exactly knowing what these tasks involved, but if they got Tom to finally leave, then he'd be happy.

James stood up, wiping toast crumbs from his robes. He looked up just in time to see Alli standing before him. He was being kissed before he knew what was happening, but wrapped his arms around her and continued to kiss her until she pulled away. He wondered why she was, but then the pain in his chest reminded him that he needed to breathe. He took a deep breathe in and smiled at her babble.

"Hi, yourself," he said, smiling. "That was fun," referring both to the fake argument and the kiss.

Alli nodded, then gave James another short kiss. "I'm glad you were late though. It would have been a little awkward and hard to explain if he'd come in and we were like this," she laughed.

There were a few crumbs left on his robe which Alli brushed off. "I still can't believe you eat that stuff. Honestly, it has to be the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten," she said, despite the fact that she'd never tried it before. She smell was enough to tell her that she didn't ever want to try it.